Cover Workaround 2

Picking up from last week, I was testing digital art programs like Gimp, Paintstorm, Krita, etc., trying to find something I can use to make real, illustrated book covers. I already had Corel Painter Lite but wanted something more robust. After researching and sleeping on it, the answer was clear. I needed Corel Painter. But it was too expensive. Then I had a brilliant idea. Why not upgrade Painter Lite to Painter 2019? Corel won't let just anything upgrade, though. So I checked the list of ineligible programs. Painter Lite was not on it. Yay! Unfortunately, it turned out they still wouldn't let me do it. That just proves that not all brilliant ideas work in practice.

I ended up buying a cheap copy of Corel Painter 2017 on Amazon. Once I did that, Corel started sending me emails to upgrade it offering me a discount off the normal upgrade price. Interesting but too expensive. However, inside the 2017 program was a $99 upgrade offer, which is about 75% off the normal price and much better than their upgrade discount. I ended up doing that instead. I wound up getting Painter 2019 for less than the cost of the normal upgrade price much less the full price. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it. It has some awesome features I wouldn't have had with just 2017. I'm excited to use them. One of those is thick paint. I can't wait. I've never been able to justify the cost of a set of heavy body acrylics. It should be fun.

While waiting for the Painter 2017 DVD to get here, I practiced with Painter Lite. At first it was horrible. Then I got a sky that looked like a painted sky and not a digital art sky. As I mentioned last week, all these painting programs advertise themselves as being like painting but on the computer, and that is nonsense. I didn't explain. Here's one example. In real life, yellow is a transparent color. To get a strong yellow, you have to use multiple layers or add something like titanium white to it or paint a white layer where the yellow goes, etc. In the painting programs, yellow is a solid color. None of the colors that are transparent in real life are transparent in these programs. Instead, what they've done is make it the opposite of real life. Rather than the digital paint acting like real paint, they've put the transparency into the brushes as a setting that can be changed. Yes, it's quite cumbersome. I'll probably end up creating a set of brushes with transparent properties. Once I learn how to do that.

Another problem is blending colors. It doesn't work like it does in real life. It looks like what I'll have to do is fiddle with settings until I can get something that is more true to life. Or I may create a huge palette of carefully blended colors based on my real life palette that I can work from. The ability to create a palette was an important factor for choosing Corel over the free programs.

What I need to do now is get under the hood and figure out how all the settings work to get the program to be as much like real painting as I can get it. I couldn't get Painter 2017 to make a sky like I could in Painter Lite, so I'm kind of starting over with the full version. From here it's just a matter of learning and figuring things out. It's a mental shift. I'm going to have to try to see the program as a separate way of painting and just accept it for what it is, instead of expecting it to work like real painting.

The final problem is my graphics tablet. I got a Wacom Bamboo in 2011 for $56 on sale. The active area for drawing is 5.8"x3.6"(147mmx91mm). When I was doing my testing in Lite and 2017, I was using a 640x480 canvas, which is pretty small but large enough to tinker with. I couldn't make a line across the canvas with such a small tablet. It also doesn't have a screen. I have to draw with the tablet while looking at my monitor. I went off the edge of the active area a lot. Looking at the monitor while drawing on the tablet wasn't a problem. The problem was the small active area. The canvas size for a book cover is going to be larger than 640x480, so, though I can get more used to it, the problem won't get better or go away.

Ideally, I'd like a tablet with a screen that I can draw on directly. However, those tend to be expensive. I can get a very decent one with no screen, but if I have to paint book covers and other concept art over the long term, I really need a screen. I prayed about the painting program, and it all fell into place for a fraction of the normal price. I'm praying about this, too. I wouldn't mind some extra prayers. :)

I'd also like to request some prayer for a friend who's having mental health problems. I was talking to her this week, and suddenly it was like one of those television movies where a person seems normal then suddenly changes and starts talking about something no one else understands. I tried to be calming and rational, but it just made it worse instead of helping. At first I wondered if it was something I'd said, but it wasn't. There have been previous indications that something was wrong. She needs prayer.

I don't know how long it's going to take me to get up to speed and produce something that isn't bad, but I'll probably be uploading some test pieces along the way. I have a book of landscape exercises. I was thinking about trying those, once I solve the blending problem. They might not be the greatest, but it would show my progress better than just describing it.

Have a great weekend.